


Lost Myself Again

by musicalgirl4474



Series: Psychology terms are Great Batfamily Prompts [8]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Damian Wayne, Alpha Jason Todd, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Fluff, Gen, Omega Dick Grayson, Protective Damian Wayne, Protective Jason Todd, age reverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-04 00:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17888222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicalgirl4474/pseuds/musicalgirl4474
Summary: Conformity- Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a social standard.Dick Presents as an Omega."Grayson, the fearless, impenetrable, talented hero. Grayson, the Omega. As of yesterday."





	Lost Myself Again

**Author's Note:**

> Damian is Shadow, Tim is Red Bat, Jason was Batboy, now Red Hood, Dickie is, of course, Robin.

Grayson was a strong individual. Damian was well aware of this. As Robin, he regularly defeated villains with powers that he himself lacked. As Richard Grayson, he placed into high school classes years before anyone of his equal age would reach freshman year. One might say that Damian was a little biased; the man had helped to train the boy after all. But those people did not know Damian.

Just like they didn’t know Grayson. Grayson, the happy, outgoing, energetic boy who let nothing get him down. Grayson, the flexible, smiling, impossible acrobat. Grayson, the fearless, impenetrable, talented hero. Grayson, the Omega. As of yesterday.

The family had generally accepted that Dick would likely present as Alpha, and if not, as Beta. The idea of him not dominating any conversation (or eventual relationship, but honestly, the kid was only twelve), was absurd.

Grayson hadn’t notice the subtle shift in his scent yesterday morning, but as soon as he entered the dining room for breakfast, the rest of the family had noticed. Likely, the shift had happened gradually overnight, and Grayson was tired from a night staying up doing homework. But while he hadn’t noticed the change to his body’s chemistry, his family’s reaction must have been difficult to miss.

Tim’s eyes had opened comically wide where before he was all but falling asleep into his cup of coffee, and some of the brown liquid had slopped over the side as he set the cup down hastily, still staring at the boy. The newspaper had slipped out of his father’s hands, fluttering with rather too much noise to the ground. Damian himself had stared at the boy as he sat in his normal spot across from him. Grayson’s new scent invaded Damian’s nose like the smell of food, tantalizingly there and not quite enough.

Of course, being the bat family, they never did things by halves, and Damian’s Alpha side was taking a great interest in this new Omega in front of him. (He found out later that things would go back to normal as soon as his more conscious being was able to put Grayson’s face and this new scent together). Drake, being the perceptive bastard that he was, noticed his attraction. Rather than waking Damian’s more rational side with a sharp slap to the back of Damian’s head (which, to be honest, may have ended with a knife in Drake’s side), he had risen and moved around the table. All the while, father had watched with something like amusement as he picked up his newspaper again. Reaching Grayson, who was beginning to take affront at being stared at, Drake put his hands on his shoulders and bared his teeth at Damian. It sent a clear message. As the eldest Omega, Drake would protect Grayson from any and all Alphas until he was old enough to understand and protect himself. This included protecting him from family if the need arose.

Telling Grayson that his scent had changed had caused the new Omega temporary panic. He had fled from the room, faster than any of them had been expecting. Tim made to go after him, but Pennyworth stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Let him be, Master Tim,” the butler said. “He needs time to come to terms with this.”

After that, once Grayson had been found in the attic staring out of the small circular window, things seemed to return to normal. Robin went out and kicked the villains’ asses into Arkham on a nightly basis, Dick Grayson was a mathlete with minimal sleep. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then, a few months later, Batman managed to track down the Red Hood. Todd had been laying low the last couple of weeks, for which Damian was actually thankful. There had been an Arkham breakout and he had better things to do than chase after his wayward little brother.

Batman sent Robin first, to run interference and hopefully keep Red Hood from bolting. However much Jason hated the rest of the family, he seemed to be a bit protective of his younger brother. Shadow was crouched on the top of the apartment building opposite his brother’s newest safe house, watching through binoculars as Robin opened the window and slipped inside, deftly bypassing the security systems. Red Hood was getting sloppy. Shadow was happy about that, it made this night’s job easier for them. But . . . perhaps leaking some of the newer bat tech to his little brother would keep him alive just a little longer. Red Bat and Robin would be . . . put out . . . if Red Hood were to die.

“Sending Robin into the hornet’s nest alone?” If Shadow had been any less trained, he would have jumped. As it was, he turned coolly to look at Red Hood, standing up to his full height, less than an inch shorter than his brother. “You’d think Batman would have learned his lesson by now.”

Damian clenched his jaw. “What happened to you was as much your fault as his,” he said stiffly. “And you know that he blamed himself regardless.”

“Besides, he knows you won’t hurt me.” Robin was silent. Even more so than any of the rest of them. 

“He’s gonna get you hurt, little bird.” Then Red Hood froze, staring at Robin. Then, he snatched his helmet off and let the red metal drop to the cement rooftop before crouching down and grabbing Robin’s shoulders, staring at the boy. He’s wearing a domino mask, but Shadow is sure that Red Hood’s eyes stay locked on Robin’s face as he gestures towards the still-open window into his apartment. “Inside, both of you. Now. Shadow, I want you to call off the others.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow. “Do not presume to-”

“Or we can have this discussion out in the open. I’m sure the criminal element would love to know what Robin presented as.”

“How-?” And if Red Hood hadn’t been trained by his father, Shadow would have finished that question. But as it was, he already knew how his younger brother would answer. “Fine.”

Todd’s apartment was almost military in neatness, with weapons in their cases next to the walls, very like Shadow’s own apartment in Bludhaven had been, before he moved back to Gotham in order to assist in training Robin. Todd pulled off his mask after closing his window and drawing the black drapes closed. “Masks off,” he said, in the manner of someone telling their visitors to leave their shoes at the entrance. Grayson complied, stripping off the mask and setting it on the coffee table, blinking his eyes to adjust them to seeing the world without the filters in the lense. Shadow was much slower about it, first alerting his father and Red Bat of the fact that Robin and he were having a discussion with Red Hood, then taking off the mask. Unlike Grayson, Damian kept ahold of his mask.

“We wear a scent masking agent,” Grayson said, looking up at Todd, who was standing in front of him. “So how could you tell?”

Todd snorted. “The way you hold yourself, Dickie. It all but screams ‘I’m an Omega’. Not that it’s something you can help,” he continued, throwing a nasty look Damian’s way. “Particularly if everyone around you is treating you as an inferior.”

“Be careful, Todd,” Damian hissed, hands twitching to reach for the escrima sticks attached to his belt. The closest he could get to daggers. 

“Piss off, Wayne.”

“Guys, please.” Grayson’s voice broke off their staring contest. Damian huffed, crossing his arms as he turned and twitched the curtains aside to stare out the window as Todd and Grayson continued to talk. He hadn’t really been treating Grayson any differently, had he? And he’d finally got to the point where his Alpha side saw Grayson as someone to protect, as family, not a potential mate. Perhaps it was more to do with school. It would not surprise Damian to know that teenagers were a cruel as ever. Todd was different. He’d been through too much to still be considered a teenager.

He was brought out of his musings by Todd’s hand on his shoulder. “He doesn’t notice it,” he said quietly, gesturing towards where Grayson was eating cereal out of the box, “but knowing he’s an Omega is changing how he acts. He’s conforming to stereotypes.”

“None of the rest of the family noticed,” Damian murmured. Todd snorted.

“Well, most of this family is emotionally screwed up, aren’t they?”

“We are supposed to be here to bring you in, you do realize this, correct?”

“Yeah. But I truthfully, honest to God, haven’t killed anyone in weeks. At least. And since I don’t seem to be able to trust the rest of the family with Little Bird, I may have to visit home a few times. Whether I have to break out of prison to do so or not. I’m thinking that Brucie may want to avoid the police tracking a runaway (supposed to be dead years ago) murderer to his mansion.”

Gunshots rang out in the Gotham night, shattering the quiet. Todd smirked. “You might wanna get out there, Shadow.”

With a nod in Todd’s direction, Shadow signalled Robin to put on his mask and jumped out of the window. When Batman asked him what had happened in Todd’s apartment, Shadow shrugged.

“He won’t be causing any trouble; I think it in our best interests to leave him alone for now.”

Then- “He seems to take his role as Grayson’s older brother very seriously.”


End file.
